UNITED NATIONS,
March 23 – When UN Secretary
General Antonio Guterres held
a photo
opportunity and meeting
with UK Foreign Secretary
Boris Johnson on March 23,
unlike in other recent
meetings with the Democratic
Republic of the Congo
and Tajikistan,
there were women on Guterres'
side of the table (Periscope video here):
Katrin Hett and the Chief of
Staff, who had just met with
Alain Leroy, former head of
Peacekeeping now with the EU.
Also on Guterres' side of the
table was OCHA's Stephen O'Brien,
who greeted and was greeted by
Boris Johnson. Will the UK,
and separately O'Brien, hold
onto the OCHA post? The
emergence reported
by Inner City Press of
outgoing Dutch Labor Party
foreign minister Burt Koenders
as a candidate for UNDP, over
David Miliband, may help
O'Brien. But with budget cuts
looming, the increasing lack
of transparency in the UN
Secretariat's business is a
problem. And this: according
to at least one senior official
on the 38th floor on March 23,
Guterres "has no interlocutor"
in Washington, to which we'll
soon turn. Watch this site.

As to
Boris Johnson, after four
pre-selected questions all on
the London attacks, Inner City
Press audibly asked about
Cameroon's Anglophone's
Internet cut, what the UK is
doing. We'll have more on this
too.
Back on March 15 when Guterres
met
with Bahrain's foreign
minister Shaikh Khalid Bin
Ahmed Al-Khalifa and a
delegation that appeared to
include that country's former
president of the General
Assembly, Guterres began by
apologizing for keeping them
waiting. Periscope video
here. His previous
appointment had been with a
delegation called "United
Cities and Local Governments."
Guterres' holdover spokesman
Stephane Dujarric has met to
answer Inner City Press
clearly on why some meeting
and calls are not disclosed,
such as a call with the King
of Morocco
and a working lunch with
Michael Bloomberg, nor how
some media were handpicked
to memorialize Guterres' most
recent trip to Kenya and
Somalia. Video
here. If these happened,
as it has, in Washington there
would be an outcry. And
perhaps one is growing in
Turtle Bay.

Earlier on
March 15 in the UN's basement,
Bahrain human rights defender
Maryam Alkhawaja spoke. She
was not on the 38th floor;
Guterres' interlocutors at
Human Right Watch, after they
met with him, refused
to give any read-out of what
issues they raised. It seems
clear these did not include,
from the UN spokesman's
non-answers, that the cut-off
of the Internet by the
government in Cameroon's
Anglophone areas, now 57 days
and counting, nor the UN's censorship
and restriction
of the Press. We'll have more
on this.

On March
13, before the snow day in New
York, Guterres met another
Gulf foreign minister, United
Arab Emirates' Sheikh
Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
UAE Ambassador Lana Zaki
Nusseibeh asked of Guterres'
recent cultural moves in New
York City. After a pause,
Guterres cited art shows in
Chelsea and at the Frick. Not
mentioned at least at that
time was former UN official
Bernardino Leon, who
negotiated a job at the UAE
Diplomatic Academy while at
the same time representing the
UN in Libya, much less any
mention of Yemen. Will there
be a read out? There was no
read out of Guterres meeting
with Tanzania's foreign
minster Mahiga, about which
Inner City Press asked
Guterres' holdover spokesman
Stephane Dujarric on March 13;
he also had no answer on Cameroon,
where the Anglophone areas
have had their Internet cut
off by the government for 56
days, almost contemporaneous
with Guterres' tenure of 72
days. We'll have more on this.

On March
10, Inner City Press was
blocked from covering a 38th
floor photo op others were
allowed to. No reasoning was
given, just as no
rule was cited when
Inner City Press was evicted
from the UN by the Department
of Public Information's Cristina
Gallach, and still remains
restricted to minders more
than a year later. Some
thought the era of a lawless
and censoring UN would be over
by now. When?

Back on
March 3, when Guterres met
with Gabon's FM Pacôme
Moubelet Boubeya on March 3,
it came before when the UN
called a two day trip by
Guterres to Kenya, from Sunday
to Thursday. Last Friday when
Inner City Press e-mailed
Guterres' holdover spokesman
Stephane Dujarric with the
simple question of where
Guterres was, Dujarric never
answered the e-mail.
When on Monday Inner City
Press asked in person in the
noon briefing, Dujarric said,
Portugal. And this time? Why
be murky?

That is
becoming a theme. Who is
working on the 38th floor? How
are they being paid? Inner
City Press asked and was
promised a chart, including a
list of who is "seconded" from
countries' mission. It has not
been provided. On March 3,
Dujarric who previously played
a role in Inner City Press'
eviction and continuing
restriction for covering the
Ng Lap Seng UN bribery case
refused to answer its last
question, saying "Tomorrow"
(which is Saturday) and "I'm
lazy." Video
here. And so it
goes.

Dujarric
told Inner City Press there
was no read-out of Guterres'
telephone call with Morocco's
King in the name of quiet
diplomacy. But why wasn't
Guterres' working lunch with
Michael Bloomberg put on his
schedule, as a meeting days
later with Gordon Brown was?
Both, Dujarric answered, are
still UN special advisers, as
apparently is Han Seoug-soo
despite being on the boards of
directors of UN bank Standard
Chartered and Doosan
Infracore, which sells
equipment to countries where
Han gives speeches as a UN
official.

Also this
week, Guterres' Deputy
Secretary General Amina
Mohammed arrived and within
two hours of being sworn in
did a four question stakeout.
Inner City Press asked
about the Green Bond of
Nigeria, and if she and
Guterres will work to make the
Security Council more
representative. UN reforms are
sorely needed. Is the pace
fast enough? Watch this site.

(Gabon was
at the UN on World Wildlife
Day. Inner City Press, still
restricted, was one of only
three media to ask questions
of CITES and Interpol, about
the illegal
trade of primates from
Guinea. The UN needs more
coverage, more access, not
less. This too much change.)

Back on February 21 when
Guterres met with Ukraine's
Foreign Minister Pavlo
Klimkin, Guterres joked that
having two UN flags and none
from Ukraine was "UN
chauvinism." Klimkin replied,
"It's the kind of chauvinism
we can tolerate. Otherwise..."
Periscope video here.

Earlier in
the day Guterres in the
Security Council expressed his
condolences at the death of
Russian Ambassador Vitaly
Churkin, saying he had been
flying back from Lisbon (and
Munich before that) when the
commander of the plane passed
a note that Churkin was dead.
Klimkin on the other hand
blocked draft a Presidential
Statement, and confirmed it at
a stakeout in which Inner City
Press asked if he would urge
Guterres to invoke Article 99
of the UN Charter more, to
raise issues.

While
Guterres has rightly scheduled
a press conference for
February 23 on South Sudan,
Somalia, Yemen and Nigeria,
those are on the Security
Council's agenda, the latter
in connection with Boko Haram.
The plight of the Rohingya in
Myanmar and Bangladesh, on the
other hand, is barely
mentioned by Council members.
Is this a test for Guterres?

On
transparency, too, Guterres
has opened the process for
finding new Under Secretaries
General of Management and
Public Information - the
departing one Cristina Gallach
evicted
Inner City Press from its
office which sits unused and restricts
it still, with no
hearing or appeal, for
covering the UN. That has yet
to be reversed, and it is
unclear if the USG position
for Humanitarian Affairs will
be opened to applications, as
UNDP has. Watch this site.

Back on
February 8 when Guterres held
a photo
opportunity and meeting
with Cote d'Ivoire Foreign
Minister Marcel Amon-Tanoh, on
the UN side of the table was
Tanguy Stehelin, until quite recently
the French Mission's legal
adviser.

That's how
it is in the UN, at least as
to Peacekeeping and former
French colonies. As Inner City
Press has exclusively
reported, now
"competing" to replace Herve
Ladsous, the fourth Frenchman
in a row atop UN Peacekeeping,
are Jean-Maurice Ripert, Jean
Pierre Lacroix and likely
winner Sylvie Bermann, now
Ambassador in London, previous
like Ladsous in Beijing. It's
the French Connection.

At this
photo op, after Amon-Tanoh's
long vistors' book signing, no
works were spoken until
Guterres' "merci." His
spokesman Stephane Dujarric, a
holdover from Ban Ki-moon and
Kofi Annan before that, has
stopped giving read-outs of
such meetings. His Office
called the end of day "lid"
with no reference to a
balance, and without answering
Inner City Press' question
from noon about Burundi. Yes,
it's the French Connection.

Still even
working from a small booth,
still evicted and restricted
by UN censor Cristina Gallach
after one year, for seeking to
cover an event in the UN Press
Briefing Room, Inner City
Press is hoping a more
transparent UN.

Back on February
3 the photo op with German
Foreign Minister Sigmar
Gabriel came less than an hour
after Guterres spokesman
declined to explain to Inner
City Press the lack of UN
read-outs of such meetings.

On
February 2, there was no
read-out of Guterres' long meeting
with Saudi Foreign Minister
Adel Ahmed Al-Jubeir. Inner
City Press went to that and
was surprised to see that UN
Children and Armed Conflict
(CAAC) expert Leila Zerrougui
wasn't there.

When
Guterres' predecessor Ban
Ki-moon took the Saudi-led
Coalition off the CAAC annex
for killing children in Yemen,
it was said discussions would
continue about putting them
back on.

Then
Zerrougui told Inner City
Press she is leaving on March
31. Earlier on February 2
Inner City Press asked
Guterres' (and Ban's before
that) spokesman Stephane
Dujarric, UN
transcript here:

Inner City Press:
I understand from Leila
Zerrougui that she's leaving
31 March. And so I
wanted to ask you how this
impacts the supposed review of
putting the Saudi-led
Coalition back on that
list. Who's going to do
the review…?

Spokesman: The… the… the
office continues. The
mandate continues. And
there is a… an open vacancy on
the public website, but it
doesn't, it has, it doesn't
change the work of the office
or the mandate of that office.

Inner City Press: Will a
report be issued even if
there's not a person in place?

Spokesman: I think we
very much hope that a person
will be, will be in place by
then, and there's no reason to
think that the work of the
office and its mandate will
change.

At the
February 2 meeting, Zerrougui
was not there, but Dujarric
was, and Jeffrey Feltman whom
the Saudis greeted warmly and
one
of his team. Video
here.

Afterward
in the lobby after Jubeir
whispered to pro-Saudi media
Inner City Press asked quite
audibly if Children and Armed
Conflict and Yemen had come
up. There was no answer. Video
here. We'll have more on
this.

Sometimes
Guterres photo ops are more
illuminative, and on February
1 he answered
this Press question. On
February 3 he briefs the
Security Council on South
Sudan and Burundi and, we're
told, US immigration orders.
Then he meets Germany's
foreign minister Sigmar
Gabriel at 2:30 pm.
We'll be there.

On
February 1 Guterres had a photo
opportunity and meeting
with Igor Crnadak, Minister
for Foreign Affairs, Bosnia
and Herzegovina, Guterres said
the UN is worried by news of
the possibility of a
referendum. Periscope
video here, from Minute
2:51.

Before
that, Inner City Press was
ordered by UN Security to stop
or suspend its Periscope
broadcast, which it had begun
one minute before the meeting
time at 3:35. Periscope
here, 0:50, abruptly
cut-off.

Earlier on
February 1, Guterres to his
credit stopped and answered
Inner City Press' question on
if he plans to hire Louise
Arbour as migration adviser.
He said he'll first take the
proposal the UN's Advisory
Committee on Administrative
and Budgetary Questions.

UN
holdover spokesman Stephane
Dujarric on January 31
declined to answer Inner City
Press' related questions
including if French Mission
legal adviser Tanguy Stehelin
is working in Guterres'
office.

Some
wondered if Le Guen might be
referred to the news the new
Administration in Washington
is considering a 40% cut in
its contributions to the UN,
with full cuts to parts of the
UN system accused of violating
human rights.

Thus far
Guterres has yet to hold a
press conference in UN
Headquarters, so it has not
been possible to ask him about
the cuts, or the seemingly
slow pace of transition and
reform so far.

Still the
talk on the 38th floor was of
a new energy, of meetings well
into the evening, with
Guterres and his chief of
staff and others.

Inner City
Press intends to report in as
much detail as it can -- it is
still constrained
by Gallach's eviction
and pass-reduction order from
eleven months ago -- but on
January 25 the photo op was
send, by a "sign," before
Guterres said anything beyond
"Comment allez-vous."

Back on January
13 when Guterres met with
President Rafael Correa of
Ecuador, the new chair of the
Group of 77 and China, Correa
gave him a painting. Photo
here;Tweeted
video here. Then,
without words, the Press was
ushered off the 38th floor.

This differed
from Guterres' first four days
in office, when he invited the
press back in and urged his
counterparties to also speak
to “your media.”

While
Inner City Press has
exclusively reported this week
on Guterres-proposed changes,
such as combining the UN's
Rule of Law and Elections
units, UN holdover spokesman
Stephane Dujarric has refused
to confirm or explain,
describing only "co-location."

But when
Inner City Press on January 13
asked for further information,
such as how many staff in UN
headquarters work on Mali,
there was no response.

We'll have more
on this - and on Dujarric's
continuig refusal to answer
UN-specified questions about
the January 10 unsealed
indictment of just-left
Secretary General Ban
Ki-moon's brother and nephew,
who was allowed to work at the
UN's landlord Colliers
International.

All of Inner City
Press' questions, including
about the UN's Office of
Internal Oversight Services,
were referred to Ban's
Seoul-based spokesman at a
phone number that is only a
telephone menu tree all in
Korean.

Guterres
held his second
and third photo
opportunities and
meetings as UN
Secretary General
on January 6, with
Japan's Deputy
Minister for
Foreign Affairs
Shinsuke Sugiyama
(Photos
here, Periscope
here) and
Greek Foreign
Minister Nikos
Kotzias (photos
here, Periscope
here.)

Slightly late to the first
meeting, Guterres cited the need
to prepare for the Astana
(Syria) and Paris (Palestine)
conferences.

Guterres
to his credit made a point of
saying a bit, in public, before
each meeting. With the Japanese
delegation he joked about a
dinner where at least “no one
vetoed the dessert” -- yet --
and with the Greeks, he joked
that their gifts, a book and
music CDs and a box, were too
heavy.

In this Guterres differed from
Ban Ki-moon, but not earlier in
the day when led around to take
selfies with the correspondents
the UN has not, like Inner City
Press, evicted from their
offices for covering UN
corruption, like the Ng Lap Seng
/ John Ashe bribery case. Video
here,story
here.

The Greek meeting followed one
on January 6 with Turkey's
Foreign Minister Mevlüt
Çavusoglu. Photo
here; video
here.

Beyond the pleasantries - and
there were more of these than in
the final days of Ban Ki-moon's
tenure - it was noteworthy
that along with the UN's Cyprus
envoy Espen Barth Eide, Ban's
Under Secretaries General
Feltman, Ladsous and O'Brien
were all there. The "P3 men,"
some call them. Will they be
switched not only for gender,
but nation?

Guterres'
new chief of staff Maria Luiza
Ribeiro Viotti was there; his
Deputy SG Amina J. Mohammed
won't formally begin until next
month. Will that trigger the end
of Ban Ki-moon's era of
censoring and restricting the
Press?

***

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